The Bristol and Gloucestershire Gliding Club

The club has around 200 flying members, a fleet of eight club owned gliders and two tug aircraft available, with about another 70 privately owned gliders operating on site.

The BGGC has its own dedicated airfield on top of the Cotswold edge with a large grass strip oriented roughly East/West. We overlook the Severn Vale looking across to the Black Mountains in Wales to the West and the Malvern Hills to the North. This means we get excellent thermal, ridge and wave offering soaring potential through the year; our members have carried out flights in excess of 750Km and reached over 20,000 ft in wave. In the winter months we enjoy around 100 km of usable ridges (in the right wind directions) from Broadway in the North to Bath in the South.

Cross Country flying for fun & competition is a key part of the club. The BGGC is glad to have among its members senior and Junior World and European champions as well as many pilots who regularly compete in UK National Championships. We typically run Western Regional competition and one of the British national classes on alternate years.

We are also an active teaching club, operating 7 days a week through the year and offering one day courses as well as regular training. Our instructional flying benefits from local soaring opportunities through the year; both in thermal and on our ridges, as well as occasional wave flights.